No pull-out from Orissa: Vedanta

Even as the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has rejected the stage-II forest clearance for the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project and slapped a showcause notice on its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has said it is committed to its refinery project and has no plans to pull out from the state.

"There is no possibility of a pull out by VAL from Orissa. We are committed to our refinery project. Orissa has around two billion tonnes of bauxite reserves which is higher than the bauxite deposits of any other state in the country. There is no question of VAL relocating its alumina refinery as we believe that the aluminium industry can flourish only in Orissa”, Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer of VAL told reporters in response to a query on whether the company was contemplating a pull out from Orissa.

Kumar today called on the state steel and mines secretary Manoj Ahuja and apprised the latter of the response submitted by the company to the show cause notice slapped by MoEF.

"We informed the steel and mines secretary of Orissa that we have submitted our response to the show cause notice of the MoEF. In our response, we have denied all allegations and stated that whatever the company has done is in conformity with the laws of the land. The issue of allotment of alternative bauxite mines did not came up for discussion”, he added.

Asked if the state government would allot alternative bauxite mines to VAL, Ahuja said, “The matter is being examined and a decision will be taken as per the rules and procedures. There is no specific timeline on the allotment of alternative mines to Vedanta Aluminium.”

As per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between the state government and the company, the state had assured to make arrangements for supply of 150 million tonnes of bauxite.

The bauxite mines at Niyamgiri hills had reserves of 75 million tonnes which would last for four years as VAL had announced to scale up capacity of its refinery from one million tonne (mtpa) per annum to six mtpa and the company needed 18 mtpa of bauxite to meet its capacity expansion.

In the aftermath of the rejection of stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills, VAL had sought alternative bauxite mines. Out of seven alternative bauxite mines sought by Vedanta, five were in Rayagada district with the remaining two in Kalahandi district. The five mines being eyed by VAL in Rayagad district include Sarambai, Malipada & Kutamal spread over 177.694 hectares; Siadimal spread over 4.95 hectares; Badamaribhata on 4.89 hectares; Kutamal and Kashipur spread over 4.966 hectares and Kutamal on 4.98 hectares.